Prometheus
|language = English |budget = $130.000.000 |gross = |preceded_by = Predators |followed_by = Alien}} "The search for our beginning, could lead to our end." Prometheus is a British-American science fiction horror movie directed by Ridley Scott and a prequel to Alien. It was released in 2012. The film began its development in the early 2000s as a fifth entry in the Alien franchise, with both Scott and James Cameron developing ideas for a film, that would serve as a prequel to Scott's 1979 science fiction horror film Alien. By 2003, the project was sidelined by the development of Alien vs. Predator and remained dormant until 2009, when Ridley Scott showed interest again in it and after the studios were opened to the idea again after the sequel Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem did not meet their expectations. According to Scott, though the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak" and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas. Plot As a hovering spacecraft departs an Earth-like world, a humanoid alien drinks a dark bubbling liquid, then starts to disintegrate. The alien's remains cascade into a waterfall. His DNA triggers a biogenetic reaction. In 2089, archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover a star map in Scotland that matches others from several unconnected ancient cultures. They interpret this as an invitation from humanity's forerunners, the "Engineers"(also known as the space jockey). Peter Weyland, the elderly CEO of Weyland Corporation, funds the creation of the scientific vessel Prometheus to follow the map to the distant moon LV-223. The ship's crew travels in stasis while the robot David monitors their voyage. Arriving in 2093, they are informed of their mission to find the Engineers. Mission director Meredith Vickers orders the crew to avoid making contact without her permission. The Prometheus lands near a large artificial structure, which a team explores. Inside they find numerous stone cylinders, a monolithic statue of a humanoid head, and the decapitated corpse of a large alien, thought to be an Engineer. They find other bodies and presume the species is extinct. The team takes the Engineer's head back for analysis. David secretly takes a cylinder, while the remaining ones begin leaking a dark liquid. A rapidly approaching storm forces the crew to return to Prometheus, leaving members Millburn and Fifield stranded in the structure. In the ship's lab, the Engineer's DNA is found to match that of humans. David investigates the cylinder and the dark liquid inside. He then intentionally taints a drink with the substance and gives it to an unaware Holloway. Shortly after, Shaw and Holloway have sex. Inside the structure, a snake-like creature kills Millburn, and sprays a corrosive fluid that melts Fifield's helmet. Fifield falls face-first into a puddle of dark liquid. The crew later returns to the structure and finds Millburn's corpse. David separately discovers a control room containing a surviving Engineer in stasis, and a star map highlighting Earth. Holloway's ingestion of the dark liquid leads to an infection that rapidly ravages his body. He is rushed back to Prometheus, but Vickers refuses to let him aboard, and at his urging, burns him to death with a flamethrower. Later, a medical scan reveals that Shaw, despite being sterile, is pregnant with an alien offspring. Fearing the worst, she uses an automated surgery table to extract and subdue the squid-like fetus. Weyland is revealed to have been in stasis aboard Prometheus, and explains to Shaw he wants to ask the Engineers to prevent his death from old age. As Weyland prepares to leave for the structure, Vickers addresses him as "Father". Fifield, who has been mutated by the dark liquid, attacks the Prometheus's hanger bay and kills several of the crew before he is killed. ''The ''Prometheus's captain, Janek, speculates, that the structure was an Engineer military installation, that lost control of a virulent biological weapon, the dark liquid. He also determines, that a part of the structure is a spacecraft. Weyland and a team return to the structure. David speaks to the Engineer, who responds by decapitating him and killing Weyland and his team. Shaw escapes the spacecraft, as the Engineer activates it. Shaw warns Janek, that the Engineer is planning to release the liquid on Earth and convinces Janek to stop the spacecraft. Janek ejects the lifeboat and rams the Prometheus into the alien craft, while Vickers escapes in an escape pod. The Engineer's disabled spacecraft crashes onto the ground; its wreckage crushes Vickers. Shaw goes to the lifeboat and finds that her alien offspring is still alive, and has grown to gigantic size. David's still-active head warns Shaw over the intercom that the Engineer has survived the crash. The Engineer forces open the lifeboat's airlock and attacks Shaw, who releases her alien offspring onto the Engineer; it thrusts a tentacle down the Engineer's throat, subduing him. Shaw recovers David's remains and with his help launches another Engineer spacecraft. She intends to reach the Engineers' homeworld in an attempt to understand, why they wanted to destroy humanity. In the lifeboat, a proto xenomorph bursts out of the Engineer's chest. Cast *Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw *Michael Fassbender as David *Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers *Idris Elba as Janek *Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland *Logan Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway *Ian Whyte as Engineer *Daniel James as Engineer of the past Development Development on a fifth film in the Alien franchise was in progress by 2002. Scott considered returning to the series he created with his 1979 science fiction horror film Alien, to pursue a sequel that would explore the engineered origins of the series's Alien creatures, and the "space jockey"—the extraterrestrial being, who briefly appears in Alien, as the deceased pilot of a derelict spaceship. Alien star Sigourney Weaver also expressed interest in returning to the series. Aliens director James Cameron discussed the potential for a sequel with Scott, and began working with another writer on a story for the film. It was then that 20th Century Fox approached Cameron with a script for a crossover film that would pit the series's monsters against the titular characters of the Predator films; this project became the 2004 science fiction film Alien vs. Predator. After Fox confirmed that it would pursue the crossover, Cameron stopped working on his own project, believing the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise." In 2006, Cameron confirmed that he would not return to the Alien sequel project, believing that the series was Fox's asset, and he was unwilling to deal with the studio's attempts to influence the potential sequel. In May 2009, Fox said that the project was a "reboot" of the Alien franchise, and soon afterwards was reported as an untitled prequel to Alien. Development stopped in June 2009 when Fox clashed with Scott over his selection of former television advertisement director Carl Erik Rinsch as director. Fox was only interested in pursuing the project if Scott directed. By July 2009, Scott was contracted to direct the film, and screenwriter Jon Spaihts was hired to write the script based on his pitched idea for a direct Alien prequel. With the director and writer in place, and pleased with Spaihts's pitch, Fox scheduled a release date for December 2011, but this was eventually canceled. In June 2010, Scott announced that the script was complete and that pre-production would begin, and a filming date was set for January 2011. Fox eventually pushed to develop the project into an original work, and by July 2010, Lindelof had been hired to redevelop Spaihts's screenplay. In October 2010, Lindelof submitted his rewritten screenplay to Fox. Scott had initially requested a $250 million budget and an adult oriented project, but Fox was reluctant to invest this amount of money, and wanted to ensure the film would receive a lower age-rating to broaden the potential audience. In December 2010, it was reported that the film would be called Paradise, named after John Milton's poem Paradise Lost, but Scott considered that this would convey too much information about the film. Fox CEO Thomas Rothman suggested Prometheus, which was confirmed as the title in January 2011. A release date was scheduled for March 9, 2012, but weeks later the release was postponed until June 8, 2012. With the name confirmed, the production team began to publicly distance the film from its Alien origins, and were deliberately vague about the connection between the films, believing it would build audience anticipation for Prometheus. Scott stated that "while Alien was indeed the jumping-off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative. "In June 2011, Scott and Lindelof confirmed that Prometheus takes place in the same universe as the events of the Alien series. In July 2011, Scott stated that "by the end of the third act you start to realize there’s a DNA of the very first Alien, but none of the subsequent films." Trivia *The movie Blade Runner is merged with this movie, establishing an identic timeline on the way. The Tyrell Corporation, its founder and his death are mentioned and the androids and synthetic humans are mentioned as two parallel developments, too. *Ridley Scott originally said the movie would be released in late 2011, possibly 2012. In December 2010, it was rumoured, that the prequels had been pushed back to 2013 and 2014. This was untrue and was apparently a failed attempt to cast Leonardo DiCaprio in the film, who would have been busy filming another movie. The film was released June 8, 2012 in the US. It was released a week or so earlier in various other countries. *A sequel will follow. Gallery Prometheus.jpg prometheus7.jpg Prometheus3.jpg prometheus_10.jpg prometheus_hd_stills_ampules.jpg Prometheus2.jpg prometheus-blu-ray-noomi.jpg prometheus-michael-fassbender.jpg prometheus-theron.jpg prometheus-img08.jpg prometheus-movie-poop-ship.jpg prometheus_born.jpg Category:Prequel films Category:Science Fiction movies Category:Alien (series) Category:Alien (series) Film Category:Films of the 2010s Category:2012 films Category:2012 horror movies